How Can We Pray for America?

Before many of our current events took place, I wrote, “It’s time to get back to fervent, faith-filled, fruit-bearing prayer. Our families, our country and our world are at stake.” I had no idea just how “at stake” they were going to be.

I’ve since written, “We need a prayerdemic!”

We are living in turbulent times, and it is more crucial for us to pray than ever. I hear people say they are discouraged and hopeless for America. How do we pray when things look so dim? How and what do we pray when we think our country is too far gone? Maybe you think it’s too late, so why keep praying? Or maybe you just want Jesus to return, for the rapture to happen and get us all out of here. Maybe He will, but we still have much praying to do in the meantime.

Does God hear our prayers?

Yes! Or He would not have repeatedly told us to keep praying:

• Matthew 6:9 – Pray then like this…
• Luke 18:1 – Always pray, and don’t lose heart.
• Romans 12:12 – Be constant in prayer.
• Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication…
• Colossians 4:1 – Continue steadfastly in prayer.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.

As you can see, prayer has not been cancelled. And I assure you, we can never have too much prayer.

Then why isn’t He answering? What’s taking so long?

The short but not so easy answer is, as explained in Ephesians 6:12, we are in a spiritual war. Some battles require more intense  fighting and take longer to win. The way we fight a spiritual war is by praying. Therefore, we must keep fighting in prayer.

So how can we pray for America?

Let’s simply pray as the Lord taught us to pray:

• Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name – Pray that God’s holy name would be known and glorified. Pray that we would love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke10:27) as we were intended. Pray for awakening and revival. Thank Him for His patience with us and others, not wanting anyone to die without Him (2 Peter 3:9).
• Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – Pray for believers to be lights and to show what His kingdom is like; for love and unity in the church and in our country. Pray for His will to be established in our land; for religious freedom; for Israel; for the life of the unborn.
• Give us this day our daily bread – Pray for the needs of our people and that our country would continue to bless other nations and be a shining city on a hill to the rest of the world. Pray for God to provide protection in our land and that no weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). Pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
• Forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors – Confess that we have fallen far short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). In light of 2 Chronicles 7:14, ask God to show where we might personally need repentance. As you confess, ask that He will forgive our sins and cleanse our hearts and our land of unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Thank Him for His mercy and grace, and ask for mercy and grace to extend to others, especially those in our government who we may not agree with. Ask for help that no unforgiveness would hinder our prayers (Psalm 66:18).
• Lead us not into temptation – Help us to not be tempted to participate in the sins of our land,* to not be conformed to the patterns of this world; ask for renewed minds (Romans 12:2) and Godly desires (Romans 13:14); pray we would resist the devil so he will flee (James 4:7).
• Deliver us from evil – Pray that He would frustrate the plans of the wicked (Job 5:12), and what our enemies mean for evil God will turn for our good (Genesis 50:20). Pray for justice, that any corruption will be revealed and dealt with; for truth to set us free (John 8:31-32); that He will not let the wicked rule over us (Psalm 125:3).
• Pray that His kingdom, power and glory would be known in our country and in the earth! Show us Your glory, Lord (Exodus 33:18).

Remember, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). So let’s keep praying! (click to tweet)

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What would you add to these prayers?

You may see some of the other prayers I have posted for America here. And my last post, “Ten Ways to Pray for the President,” here.

I look forward to you praying these prayers along with me. However, we cannot depend on social media to show these posts, as they increasingly limit posts like this and voices like mine. If you haven’t followed my blog yet, I invite you to here so you won’t miss when I post. (I will never flood your inbox or share your email!)

*Could God be waiting for us?

We quote 2 chronicles 7:14 all the time, but are we doing what it says? It is easy to look around and think others are doing worse things than us, but how might we be indirectly taking part in the sins of our country? For example, are there companies who support abortion that we do business with? What do we support on TV and in movies? Perhaps we could take a look at such things and see how we might be part of what’s going on without realizing it. Could God be waiting for us to repent of some things?

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My passion is prayer, which is why I wrote the book, Pursuing Prayer – Being Effective in a Busy World. The purpose of Pursuing Prayer is to enrich our prayer lives by helping us comprehend more fully the importance and power of prayer, to understand what Jesus was teaching in the Lord’s Prayer, and to inspire and motivate us to pray more often and more fervently. Imagine the result of more answered prayers affecting our families, our country and our world.

Pursuing Prayer is ideal for group or personal study. I hope you’ll consider it for such a time as this. You can find it on Amazon or anywhere books are sold.

Pursuing Prayer won a first place 2020 Selah award (Bible study category)!